1. Field
Embodiments of the invention relate to power management. More specifically, embodiments relate to source controlled dynamic power management.
2. Background
Microprocessors commonly use dynamic power management techniques to manage power usage. Normally, dynamic power management for microprocessors is accomplished through activity detector circuitry that is located in the microprocessor and coupled to a centralized, front side bus (FSB). The activity detector circuitry is adapted to detect conditions under which certain units should be turned on or off and to adjust the power levels of these units appropriately.
Traditionally, the activity detector circuitry has provided acceptable performance because such circuitry was physically separated from the power-controlled units by only a short distance. However, bus architectures are moving away from FSB architectures and are beginning to utilize point-to-point (pTp) architectures. However, pTp architectures will likely experience difficulties in power management.
One reason for experiencing such difficulties is that pTp architectures are distributed systems that support implementations where the power management circuitry and the power-controlled units are placed on different integrated circuits, but are connected by pTp links. As a result, conventional activity detector circuitry cannot effectively hide the latency to turn on/off the units from the performance aspects of the system since it cannot provide adequate lead time to circuitry of these units to turn power on or off.